April 19th is National Record Shop Day

National Record Shop Day is a celebration of independent record shops , so show your support and buy a record from your local independent shop . If it wasn't for places like these you would probably be only to buy the latest Pop Idol release and Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston compilations.

The ones I can think of in Newcastle are:

• Spin in High Bridge
• RPM / CDXPress in High Bridge
• Reflex in Nunn Street / Grainger Market
• alt.vinyl round the corner from Tilleys
• Oldhitz on Grainger Street
• Beatdown off Ridley Place
• Roots Music on Westgate Road
• Pet Sounds in Old Eldon Square
• Devastasian down the West Road
• Factoria Sonora in Clayton Street

Theres a Rough Trade article here

So on the 19th go out and do it otherwise you'll only be able to buy your music from Woolworths and Tesco!!!

Being Prepared!!!

Whenever you do something , you tend to plan things out and ensure that all things are in place in order to reach you particular goal. If you're going on a car journey you make sure you know where you are going , have enough petrol and a spare tyre.

In our latest installment of home improvements , we've decided on a new bathroom , so part of our preparations was the fact that we have a second bathroom to wash, shower and have a wee!! All was fine .... or so we thought. What we hadn't counted on was the plumber accidentally cutting off the water supply to the second bathroom. Oh sugar we thought , no hot water , no flushing toilet , no shower.

Still it was only one night , but the lesson to be learned is that there is always something else to go wrong even when you think you've thought of everything!!!

On a far more pleasant note an artist friend of mine has just been featured in Artists and Illustrators Magazine with a very impressive spread. His website is here and has a link to the article as well as many examples of his excellent paintings, such as the one below.

Seven Days In The Garden #2

The garden is slowly developing. Ten tons of topsoil delivered and installed (is that the right word , yesterday. The pile on the left is now distributed in the garden and raised beds.






The back is waiting for turf but looking much more garden like.
In the front the cobbles are down so we now have a drive way.
Looking forward to a weekend with a garden!!

Seven Days On Public Transport - Observations

I'm currently spending a lot of time commuting down the east cost line utilising bus and train. Most days the system works remarkably well , door to door 50 mile journey in something around 70 minutes.

However the behaviour of some people never fails to surprise me.

On The Train:

• People scour the whole train looking for a double or quad seat for themselves , refusing to consider sitting next to a "stranger" . What's the problem? Though I'm fine , I'll sit next to anyone , and take a perverse delight in making that git move their case or laptop from the seat.
• When the train sets off , why do people immediately leave their seat and stand in the aisle , blocking every ones way , in order to rummage through their suitcase or laptop case or whatever . Never fails to happen.

On The Bus:

• When it's crowded people sit in the middle of a seat to discourage you from sitting down. Not me . "Can you shift up please , missus"
• Why do students congregate around the front of the bus , whether or not there's free seats further down the bus? The number of times a half empty bus has sped past my stop because this , well I've lost count. And this is the future of this country!!!!

Anyway just a couple of gripes and observations , no doubt there'll be more....

Seven Days In The Garden

I know nothing about gardens though this has involved numerous trips round B & Q immortalised by Half Man Half Biscuit in "Paintball's Coming Home" (Free Download here), but we're having a mass overhaul of the house and garden at the moment. The thing I wasn't prepared for was the amount of dust (from mixing concrete and cutting bricks and blocks) that permeated the house.


The original garden was square-ish and a more than adequate refuge from the world , though some of the wildlife that appeared was most surprising . Like frogs for instance. Yes we have a pond , but we're surrounded by houses , and roads and there's no farmland anywhere near , though a couple of parks within a mile. Still it's a long way for a frog.





After the second day we had a circle marked out and a pile of rubble in the back garden for the gang to move via their wheelbarrow. Rather you than me mate!!!






The garden is now taking shape with raised beds being built and most of the paved area sorted out the back . Just waiting for the grass and plants and the finishing off!!.






We get plagued by cats and this morning we had a guinea fowl. Our garden planner said we'd attract more wild life , but didn't expect it so soon or with such diversity , no doubt we'll have the frogs back in force at some point as well!!

Seven Days In Dublin Again #2

Just reading the rather excellent Pies and Prejudice by Stuart Maconie and the man from Wigan points out that Dublin's name is extrapolated from the gaelic "dubh" meaning black and 'linh" meaning pool. So Dublin is Ireland's very own Blackpool!! I think generally the name is about the only thing the two places have in common.

As this was our second time we managed to track down decent places to go and hit the target every time.

The Ha'penny Bridge pub , next to the Ha'penny Bridge (no surprise there) , serves an excellent pint of Guinness (to everyone in the pub when I was there) , and managed to screen the Manchester United and Celtic matches simultaneously , and still provide a warm welcome and superb service.

Across the Halfpenny Bridge is The Winding Stair and book shop cum restaurant (Michelin Guide Listed) that scores highly in both departments. Some excellent and unusual books are on sale and the food was absolutely gorgeous, though I get the impression that you do have to book , so make sure you phone if you fancy a meal there.

Also this there seem to be fewer beggars , being split between sad cases who sit holding out a McDonald's cup and the cheery ones selling The Big Issue or plaing some musical instruments. The latter ones actually brighten up the streets and walkways so got some donations from me.

Also checked out Tower records which among the normal stuff had many unusual psychedelic gems and is recommended. They were playing Beefheart and Amon Duul over the PA , not something you hear everyday anywhere!!!

As well as that we visited some museum in Dublin Castle which had a Japanese art display and a green area decorated with snakes in the form of a Celtic design . Well worth a look.
Another thing about Dublin , is the preposterous number of pharmacies everywhere. The Irish don't strike me as being a particularly ill race, far from it. Maybe it's because of the number of pharmacies that they manage to stave off all the possible ailments. Theres one particularly pleasant example in Dalkey (out of the four that I noticed , which is the one below.

Seven Days On A Train

My current work situation means that I travel on a daily basis between Newcastle and Darlington using a combination of bus and train . Amazingly a 40 odd mile journey generally takes around 70 minutes door to door . I doubt I could do that by car.

The first time I made the journey it was by car , and in the first 45 minutes I'd managed to progress aropund three miles . Once I'd passed the Metro Centre bottle neck it was plain sailing down the A1 until the Darlington turn off whereupon I became hindered by an RAC tow truck for about 5 miles . Not really a great recommendation for travel by car.

However despite the general excellence of the public transport in this part of the country there are strill those who contrive to make the journey as awkward as possible. For instance:

• As you run for the bus at the stop, the driver who shuts the doors and refuses to acknowledge you as you hammer on the side of his bus as he pulls away, despite the fact that he's two or three minutes early. And you know the next bus will be cancelled or at the least very late.
• When you run into the train station , the train is standing there (doors shut) and you're told by the smarmy uniformed rail employee that "You've missed it"!! Five minutes later the train pulls out . It makes you want to visit physical violence on these people.
• On the Arriva busses in Darlington the ticket printers havent been re inked for years resulting in very faint weekly tickets being printed. Certain myopic drivers cant read these and take ages before grudgingly letting you on the bus. In Newcastle the tickets are generally very legible.
• Why is it on trains , when your trying to find a seat , certain people insist on standing in the gangway to rummage through their luggage , ensuring that no one can get past them!!
• Similarly is the drinks / sarnie trolley that pins you in your seat just as you need to leave the train.

Despite the number on annoyances on the trains and busses , they're still far preferable to and hour in a traffic jam , followed by an age trying to park your motor!!